Tycoon to fly in Arnie, take on Windsor and Joyce in New England

Barnaby Joyce
is not
Tony Windsor
’s only competition for the federal seat of New England – the independent MP is also up against celebrity spruiker and local-born tycoon
Jamie McIntyre
, who is launching a party pushing for the abolition of state governments.

In his bid to wrest the NSW seat, Mr McIntyre may be able to seek advice from the former California “governator",
Arnold Schwarzenegger
, whom he is bringing to Australia as keynote speaker at a financial education summit he is hosting in June.

Mr McIntyre, who calls himself a “motivational speaker and self-made millionaire", says his new 21st Century Australia party, which he is in the pro­cess of registering with the Australian Electoral Commission, would argue voters should decide on major policies.

He wants an independent board – rather than “incompetent politicians" – to oversee government spending and says state governments and compulsory voting should be axed.

“People don’t want to vote for
Julia Gillard
. She’s gone. But they don’t particularly like
Tony Abbott
, either. There could be massive support for a third party," he said.

The 40-year-old was born in New England and still owns farms and has family there, but resides on the Gold Coast. In 2011, Mr McIntyre won a Supreme Court battle with Google, forcing it to reveal the identity of a website that labelled him a “thieving scumbag".

He is highly critical of Mr Windsor – accusing him of “betraying his electorate" by backing Labor, and says he would preference neither the in­dependent MP, nor Labor, suggesting his candidacy could favour Senator Joyce, who is the frontrunner for pre­selection as the Nationals’ candidate to replace dumped
Richard Torbay
.

Mr McIntyre says his new party aims to field candidates in most of the 150 lower house seats. Crossbench MP
Bob Katter
has said his party will also field a candidate in New England, which is shaping as one of the most compelling contests of the 2013 federal election.